Historical Record of the Seventy-Third Regiment / Containing an account of the formation of the Regiment from the period of its being raised as the Second Battalion of the Forty-Second Royal Highlanders in 1780 and of its subsequent services to 1851

by Richard Cannon

FOOTNOTES:

[14] On the 21st of August, 1810, the French Marshal Bernadotte, one of Napoleon’s generals, was elected Crown Prince of Sweden. The appointment of a successor to the throne of that country was considered necessary in consequence of the Duke of Sudermania, who had been elected king in the room of the deposed Gustavus IV., being advanced in years, and without children.

[15] The following statement of the above operations is contained in the Annual Register, vol. 87, page 280:—

“After landing at Stralsund, and assisting in completing the works of that town, Lieut.-Colonel Harris, with the SEVENTY-THIRD, was detached into the interior of the country, to feel for the enemy, and also to get into communication with Lieut.-General Count Wallmoden, which dangerous service he successfully effected, though he had, with great care and caution, to creep with his small force between the large corps d’armée of Davoust and other French generals at that time stationed in Pomerania, Mecklenburg, and Hanover. Having joined Count Wallmoden, the SEVENTY-THIRD contributed greatly to the victory that General gained over the French on the plains of Gorde, in Hanover, where Lieut.-Colonel Harris, at the head of his battalion, declining any aid, and at the moment when the German hussars had been routed, charged up a steep hill, took a battery of French artillery, and unfurling the British colours, at once spread terror amongst that gallant enemy which feared no others; a panic struck them, and they fled.”

[16] A list of the British and Hanoverian army at Waterloo is inserted in the [Appendix, page 73].

[17] “Once, and once only, during the dreadful carnage at Waterloo, did the stern SEVENTY-THIRD hesitate to fill up a gap which the relentless iron had torn in their square; their Lieut.-Colonel (Brevet Colonel Harris) at once pushing his horse lengthwise across the space, said with a smile, ‘Well, my lads, if you wont, I must’; it is almost needless to add that immediately he was led back to his proper place, and the ranks closed up by men still more devoted than before.”—(Annual Register, vol. 87, page 280.)